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Seattle University Law Review

Articles 271 - 272 of 272

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Mobil Oil Corp. V. Higginbotham—Confusion Returns To Maritime Wrongful Death Actions, Howard Hall Jan 1979

Mobil Oil Corp. V. Higginbotham—Confusion Returns To Maritime Wrongful Death Actions, Howard Hall

Seattle University Law Review

In 1967, a helicopter carrying three passengers and a pilot returning from an offshore drilling platform crashed into the Gulf of Mexico beyond Louisiana's territorial waters, killing all aboard. The families of the decedents instituted a wrongful death suit in admiralty, seeking recovery under general maritime law, the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), and the Jones Act. The federal district court found Mobil Oil Corporation, the owner and operator of the helicopter, negligent. In awarding damages the district court limited recovery to pecuniary losses, holding that a pecuniary loss limitation applied regardless of the theory of recovery. Specifically, …


The Collateral Source Rule: Double Recovery And Indifference To Societal Interests In The Law Of Tort Damages, William A. Olson Jan 1978

The Collateral Source Rule: Double Recovery And Indifference To Societal Interests In The Law Of Tort Damages, William A. Olson

Seattle University Law Review

This comment analyzes the present utility of the collateral source rule and finds the rule unjustified as a means of ensuring either punishment of the defendant or just compensation for the plaintiff. It further examines the efficacy of subrogation in eliminating the collateral source rule's vice of double recovery. The comment concludes that legislative reform abolishing the collateral source rule and subrogation in medical malpractice suits should extend to all tort actions for personal injury, thereby entirely eliminating double recovery and the consequent higher societal costs in insurance premiums, taxes, and prices.